CASE STUDY
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STL sees market growth
50-100 EXTENSION SEGMENT
STL Communications has seen consistent PBX/IP- PBX sales during the past 12 months. However, more recently the company has witnessed a significant increase in the level of sales enquires for phone systems in the 50-100 extension market.
A
s a Samsung Platinum Partner, STL mainly sells Samsung’s OfficeServe range, along with
Avaya’s IP500 and Aura ranges. STL also maintains a number of other systems including those from Panasonic and Siemens. According to Peter Allen, Sales Manager at STL Communications, the outlook for the remainder of 2010 is positive, due in part to the green shoots of economic recovery, but also to a number of new products that have been launched by vendors. For example, Samsung has introduced enhancements to its products including a range of new IP phones and improved software applications, which in association with its heavily marketed scrappage scheme has already resulted in good sales.
“We recently held a series of Technology Briefings with Samsung at Force India F1 that were oversubscribed. This is a good indication that people are once again feeling more confident to look at new systems,” said Allen. “Avaya has invested in a well publicised relaunch of its products with new IP phones, again giving us good reason to promote its products. STL is looking forward to a good 2010 with new system purchases playing a major part in our business format, especially with the expected high levels of PBX and hosted sales.”
Key to ongoing success in the 50- 100 extension segment is IP, says Allen. He also noted that many 50-100 extension organisations are looking at new flexible working
practices including remote and home working, which means IP endpoints that act as a simple extension of their office system are in more demand. Another key factor is cost control, which means that reporting and call management applications are enjoying increasing success.
Allen highlighted a clear shift towards offering flexible working. “Whether it’s deploying IP terminals over a LAN/WAN or providing IP softphones for remote workers, this is a key part of almost every system we are installing at the moment,” he said. “We have also noticed a major change in attitudes towards hosted telephony. Increasingly we are dealing with IT managers and directors who have bought into the hosted model and the flexibility it allows.”
Green shoots of recovery in the 50-100 extension market are augmented by new demand for technology refreshments and upgrades to IP solutions from within STL’s existing customer base. New prospects are also showing interest, especially in the education and medical sectors. Furthermore, Allen has observed a significant increase in demand for IP over more traditional systems. “The new technology has certainly reinvigorated sales opportunities,” he added.
As a reseller, STL has seen an increase in investment in marketing by both Samsung and Avaya, keen to support it with marketing materials and proactive marketing activities combined with the new IP handsets and product introductions. “There are still a few developments that we would welcome, including further integration with Microsoft products like OCS,” stated Allen. “A second opportunity is more mobile integration with the phone system, which I am sure will be forthcoming soon if the success of the iPhone is anything to go by.”
Another trend highlighted by Allen is a growth in demand for virtualised voice/applications, SaaS and the hosted model. “We have witnessed significant growth in all areas of virtualisation, especially with Gamma’s Communicator and FeaturePlus. Moving forward, virtualisation will play a key part in STL’s business strategy from both a voice and data perspective. Reasons for this growth include the flexibility offered to organisations by
Increasingly we are dealing with directors who have bought into the hosted model
Peter Allen
hosted, as well as the cost element and very often the environmental benefits of virtualisation.”
As an organisation, STL has embraced virtualisation. It is a carbon neutral company with a strong environmental agenda. “We are in the process of a full server virtualisation internally. Aside from the improvement in our day-to-day working practice and improved disaster recovery, this represents significant savings to STL on power costs as well as meeting our environmental objectives,” said Allen.
“There is a definite shift among end users to virtualisation of comms because it fulfills their green ethos and CSR programmes. Virtualisation fits with STL’s GreenMinutes initiative that allows end users to offset their carbon phoneprint and work greener with a range of eco’ features.”
That said, there is still very much a market for PBXs, particularly for more technically demanding applications such as contact centres. “While hosted/virtualisation is increasingly popular, there is still a higher percentage of customers looking to install new systems or upgrade existing PBXs,” said Allen. n
Multi-vendor Telephone Maintenance & Support
38 COMMS DEALER APRIL 2010
sales@maintel.co.uk W: www.maintel.co.uk
www.comms-dealer.com
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